Lusaka vs Washington - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lusaka	Washington
🚶 Cost of living one person	$738	$3149
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2249	$7865
🏠 One person rent	$312	$2045
🏘️ Family rent	$948	$4037
🍽️ Food expenses	$239	$738
🚐 Transport expenses	$127	$167
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$333	$5859
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Good
✈️ Airport proximity	5 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	37	100
😀 Quality of life	49	94
🏙️ Population	2.47M	690K

The cost of living in Lusaka is 77% less expensive than in Washington. Cities ranked 6726th and 96th ($738 vs $3149) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 6th and 86th in Zambia and the United States, respectively. Check Zambia vs the United States comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Lusaka compared to 1.9 months in Washington. Lusaka ranked 1st best city to live in Zambia vs Washington ranked 5th in the United States, while ranked 6269th and 43rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Lusaka vs Washington infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/lusaka/washington.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Lusaka vs Washington infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/lusaka/washington" target="_blank">Lusaka vs Washington - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Lusaka vs Washington

Prices for goods and services in Lusaka and Washington are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Lusaka	Washington
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$6.95	$22.3
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$27	$86.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$3.8	$11.9
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$8.65
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$5.66
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.64	$2.99
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$194	$2298
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$109	$1750
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1082	$4716
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$641	$3555
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$60.8	$123
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$94.7	$187
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$125	$62.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	21.29%	6.6%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2003	$7543
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$4875	$6152
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.23	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$36.8	$94.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$12	$23.3
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.22	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.34	$1.09
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.75	$3.54
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.7	$4.92
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.79	$4.44
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.27	$18.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.63	$15.7
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.83	$19.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.33	$5.25
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.42	$2.02
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.63	$5.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.15	$6.03
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.98	$3.21
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$3.8
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.34	$1.72
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.97	$2.99
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$6.86	$16.4
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.09	$3.25
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.37	$11.6
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.66	$9.31
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.39	$4.77
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.17	$4.98
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.07	$2.58
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.9	$105
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.6	$16.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12.1	$114
💇 Haircut, simple	$4.45	$31.9
👖 Brand Jeans	$18.3	$76
👟 Brand Sneakers	$89.8	$113
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$176	$2464
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$9642	$24653

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Lusaka

Distance	City	Cost of living
166 km or 103 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
209 km or 130 mi	Choma	$700
275 km or 171 mi	Ndola	$541
289 km or 179 mi	Kitwe	$917
297 km or 184 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
318 km or 198 mi	Mufulira	$1018
322 km or 200 mi	Chingola	$875
370 km or 230 mi	Kadoma	$723
373 km or 232 mi	Livingstone	$688
399 km or 248 mi	Harare	$992
411 km or 255 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
426 km or 265 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
429 km or 267 mi	Kwekwe	$730
464 km or 288 mi	Marondera	$794
475 km or 295 mi	Mansa	$776
478 km or 297 mi	Gweru	$597
521 km or 324 mi	Likasi	$961
529 km or 329 mi	Bulawayo	$766
574 km or 356 mi	Tete	$825
584 km or 363 mi	Masvingo	$854
605 km or 376 mi	Kolwezi	$975
611 km or 380 mi	Mutare	$752
613 km or 381 mi	Lilongwe	$587
645 km or 401 mi	Francistown	$624
658 km or 409 mi	Kasama	$748
686 km or 426 mi	Chimoio	$947
688 km or 428 mi	Ntcheu	$492
694 km or 431 mi	Mzimba	$566
721 km or 448 mi	Blantyre	$507
729 km or 453 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
756 km or 470 mi	Zomba	$457
757 km or 471 mi	Mangochi	$493
762 km or 474 mi	Mzuzu	$525
775 km or 482 mi	Mulanje	$461
792 km or 492 mi	Serowe	$583
802 km or 499 mi	Palapye	$540
852 km or 529 mi	Beira	$1003
869 km or 540 mi	Mahalapye	$631
917 km or 570 mi	Mbeya	$461
956 km or 594 mi	Quelimane	$675

Cities near Washington

Distance	City	Cost of living
2.5 km or 1.5 mi	Georgetown	$2893
9.5 km or 5.9 mi	Bailey's Crossroads	$2543
10 km or 6.3 mi	Alexandria	$2856
11 km or 6.8 mi	Bethesda	$2777
12 km or 7.5 mi	Silver Spring	$2273
15 km or 9.2 mi	College Park	$2548
17 km or 11 mi	Springfield	$2309
17 km or 11 mi	Greenbelt	$2471
23 km or 14 mi	Rockville	$2596
24 km or 15 mi	Fairfax	$2786
26 km or 16 mi	Bowie	$2566
27 km or 17 mi	Laurel	$2299
28 km or 17 mi	Reston	$2617
30 km or 19 mi	Waldorf	$2498
31 km or 19 mi	Gaithersburg	$2425
32 km or 20 mi	Herndon	$2513
34 km or 21 mi	Woodbridge	$2601
34 km or 21 mi	Marumsco	$2539
36 km or 22 mi	Centreville	$3174
37 km or 23 mi	Germantown	$2791
38 km or 23 mi	Columbia	$2760
41 km or 26 mi	Manassas	$2640
42 km or 26 mi	Ashburn	$2696
47 km or 29 mi	Annapolis	$2961
49 km or 31 mi	Catonsville	$2500
51 km or 32 mi	Leesburg	$2197
57 km or 35 mi	Eldersburg	$2499
57 km or 35 mi	Baltimore	$2287
61 km or 38 mi	Owings Mills	$2584
68 km or 42 mi	Frederick	$2389
76 km or 47 mi	Fredericksburg	$2206
83 km or 52 mi	Charles Town	$1728
87 km or 54 mi	Edgewood	$2909
92 km or 57 mi	Bel Air South	$2727
93 km or 58 mi	Bel Air North	$2640
102 km or 63 mi	Hanover	$2210
102 km or 63 mi	Hagerstown	$2149
103 km or 64 mi	Winchester	$2280
106 km or 66 mi	Waynesboro	$2217
122 km or 76 mi	York	$1979